The board of the British Library has announced the departure of chief executive Rebecca Lawrence less than a year after she started her tenure.
Lawrence joined the institution in January 2025 having previously worked as the chief executive of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Her role will be covered by board member Jeremy Silver, who has been appointed interim director. The announcement comes midway through a two-week strike over pay by more than 300 workers.
In a statement this week, the board said: “The British Library board has announced that Rebecca Lawrence has stepped down as chief executive. The board extends its thanks to Rebecca for her contribution and wishes her every success in her future endeavours.”
The board confirmed that Silver will cover the role of interim chief executive “for the time being”. He has been a board member since 2019, and was re-appointed for a second term in 2023.
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Silver is a non-executive director, investor and author, with extensive global experience in digital media, immersive technologies, music and AI/machine learning. Between 2016-2024 he was CEO of Digital Catapult, the UK Government-funded applied research and development labs and business accelerator for start-ups, scale-ups and corporates.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union began their walkout on 27 October over what they describe as “chronic low pay” at the British Library. The strike is due to end on 9 November.
A statement from PCS said the announcement of Lawrence’s departure had thrown the institution into “further turmoil”.
They are demanding an inflation-proof pay rise with restoration after what they say is “a second consecutive year of a real-terms pay cut”.
PCS said: “There has been no improvement on the derisory 2.4% pay offer to our members, which is way below inflation, but we urge the interim chief executive to meet us with the aim of negotiating an end to this dispute immediately.”
The union says the strike has garnered widespread support, leading to the cancellation of events and engagements as speakers refuse to cross the picket line.
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One such event due to take place this week, Punk: 50 Years of Rebellion, Creativity and Raw Energy, has been postponed until December.
The British Library’s St Pancras site has remained open during the strike with a reduced service in place.
The library’s current exhibitions, Secret Maps and Story Explorers, have had to close early on a number of days and the website warns exhibition visitors that “there is a chance that there may be potential disruption at short notice”.
Some of the library's reading rooms have also been closed, as well as its Asia and Africa Print Room. Appointments to access the library’s Sound and Vision collection have also been unavailable. The institution’s Boston Spa site is unaffected by the strike.
The industrial action comes two years after a devastating cyber attack on the British Library. Museums Journal understands that some staff feel there has been a significant decline in wellbeing and the working environment in the aftermath of the attack.
Recovery from the attack is estimated to have cost up to £7m, or around 40% of library’s unallocated reserves. The institution also reported an estimated loss of £1.6m up to March 2024 for costs directly and indirectly attributed to the incident.